Give and Take
by NascentRaconteur
Summary: After curing Midgar's children of Geostigma, the rest of Avalanche retires to the 7th Heaven, leaving Cloud the last person in the old slum church... or so he thinks..
1. Give and Take

Note: This story takes place just after the ending of Advent Children. I own nothing. Enjoy!

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**Give and Take  
by Nascent Raconteur**

The tolling of the bell marked the conclusion of the longest afternoon of their lives. Having spent a good few hours 'baptizing' the children of Midgar, as well as any others suffering from the affliction of Geostigma, the Avalanchers departed from the slum church. Only Cloud remained, having told the others that he needed a few minutes to gather his things so he could move back into his room above the 7th Heaven bar. The others had gone on ahead, shepherding the crowd back out into the streets, leaving him the last person left in the building... or so he thought.

It was a minute or so before he realized that he wasn't alone. He could hear the faint sound of someone groaning coming from behind him. It was Yuffie, slumped over one of the pews near the pool of water at the far end of the church. He walked over to check on her. "Hey, Spikes," she greeted him, turning over, shielding her eyes from the sunlight coming through the cracks in the ceiling.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Yeah... just bushed," she replied, rubbing the back of her neck. "I've been running and jumping around all day, if you hadn't noticed."

"_You're_ tired?" Cloud asked, sitting down on the bench next to her. "I almost died today, you know."

"Yeah?" Yuffie said, sitting up and stretching. "You look pretty good for dead."

"Thanks... I guess," Cloud said.

"Anyway, I thought I'd take a minute to catch my breath," the young ninja said. "What's your excuse?"

"Just packing up," Cloud said, indicating the junk heap in the corner of the room. He hadn't brought much with him. A cot. A lamp. Some food. Nothing complex. He found that he didn't need much to get by.

"You know..." he said, looking over at Yuffie. "I _did_ see you running and jumping around today. Pretty impressive."

"Thanks," Yuffie replied.

"It sounds like you were worried about me," he added.

"What makes you think that?" Yuffie asked.

"Back when I was fighting Kadaj, I thought I heard you say you had my materia," Cloud said.

"Oh, yeah. I did, didn't I?" Yuffie said. "Well, it's lucky you didn't need it. It's in that box over there," she said, pointing to a small, black container on the floor.

It still struck him as rather odd. He thought he must have misheard her. During the battle, the Highwind had swooped in behind him, and he'd heard her call something, though he wasn't sure what it was she was shouting over the noise of the airship's engines. Even at the best of times, a stampede of wild horses couldn't tear the young ninja away from a materia stash, and Yuffie Kisaragi handing over materia to someone else, even if not her own, was practically unheard of. But perhaps she had grown up a little in the two years that they had know each other... if only a little.

She yawned, rubbing her eyes and stretching some more. He was tempted to follow suit. They had both had a long day, to say the least.

"This place is kind of a mess, huh?" Yuffie said, looking over the dilapidated church. Despite all the damage it had sustained over the years, the ageing edifice still held together remarkably well.

"Guess Aerith's gonna be pretty mad," she added, looking at the ruined flower bed. "Well, _would_ be pretty mad... You know what I mean.."

"Yeah," Cloud replied.

He thought about the vision he had seen earlier that day, when he had emerged from the Lifestream. He was still not sure if he was just seeing things, or if it had really been her. He looked out over the pool of water at the back of the church. The spectacle of the sunlight moving throughout its waves was almost hypnotic. In his calm and distracted state, he almost didn't notice as something soft fell against his shoulder.

"Yuffie?"

"Hmm..?"

"Are you... looking for a pillow?"

Startled, the young ninja raised herself back into a sitting position. Without noticing it, she had nodded off. On his shoulder, no less.

"Not that I really mind, but don't you think we're moving a bit too fast here?" he said, taking the opportunity to tease her.

"S-shut up.." she replied, blushing. "You spikey-headed jerk.."

Though she tried to remain upright, fatigue was already getting the better of her. "Just let me rest for a few minutes," she said, curling up on the bench.

"All right," Cloud said. "A few minutes. We stay any longer than that, the others will start to wonder what's become of us."

He leaned forward in his seat, clasping his hands underneath his chin, gazing out at the pool of water again, as the last rays of sunshine cascaded throughout its waves. As he watched the serene setting, Aerith's last words to him echoed in his mind.

_"You're all right now, aren't you?"_

_"It's okay... I know I'm not alone in this fight."_

Her visitation had brought back some painful memories, but he was glad of it, too. For years, he had carried the guilt of thinking he had played a part in her demise. But apart from that, he had worried about what had become of her. Though she was no longer among the living, she seemed just as vibrant as he remembered her, watching over her friends, as might a guardian angel. He still missed her greatly, but knowing that she was all right assured him that things might just turn out okay, after all.

Though the battle was over, there was still lots more to do. As far as the reconstruction effort was concerned, there was no end in sight. But for now, they had earned a break. And he was content to get back to simply living, moment by moment.

Yuffie leaned over again, resting her head on his shoulder. "...stupid, soft, comfortable spikey-headed jerk," she muttered as she drifted off to sleep.

* * *

About half an hour later, he got up again, nudging the young girl's shoulder in an effort to wake her up. Yuffie had mumbled something in protest, but got up as well.

Cloud stuffed what few possessions he had brought with him into a small bag, which he slung over his shoulder. As he left, he cast one last glance at the inside of the ruined church. There would be time to make repairs later, he thought. For now, they had to get back to their friends, who were no doubt starting to wonder where they were.

He wandered through the busy streets of Midgar, weaving through the crowd on his way back to the 7th Heaven bar. He would have taken his motorcycle, but he didn't know where it was right now, or if it was even still in one piece. He didn't mind walking, though. It was a chance to get some fresh air and see the city from a different perspective than he was used to.

Yuffie came up next to him, back to her usual, energetic self. He caught her staring at him, and he could see on her face a hint of that mischievous smile that told him she had something on her mind.

"What?" he asked.

"Hey, Cloud... can I have your materia?" she asked, eyeing the box he had tucked underneath his arm.

"No."

A pause.

"How about now?"

"No."

Another, slightly longer pause.

"...And now?"

"Yuffie," Cloud said, exasperated, "what part of 'no' didn't you understand?"

"Fine," she huffed. "You force me to invoke the law!"

"Invoke the law?" Cloud replied. "You?"

"Yup," Yuffie said. "Got a contract right here. Signed and sealed."

She dug into her pocket, whipping out a yellowed piece of paper, holding it up for him to examine. "Read it and weep," she said, grinning. "And then gimme your stuff."

Cloud ran his eyes across the text, raising an eyebrow as he did.

_'I hereby pledge all of my materia to one Yuffie Kisaragi. -Signed, Cloud Strife.'_

He remembered seeing the contract before, though he didn't remember signing it. He had been wandering about the Highwind one day, and seeing that the young ninja was suffering from one of her bouts of motion sickness, had walked over to hand her some tranquilizers, when she had sprung it on him. He'd turned her request down then, as well. She was about to protest further, when her turbulent insides got the better of her, and the matter was all but forgotten.

"Yuffie..." he said. "This isn't my handwriting."

That was putting it mildly. Though Cloud wasn't exactly an expert penman, the name scrawled on the dotted line resembled his handwriting about as much as Marlene's did.

"How can you tell?" Yuffie asked.

"Come on, Yuffie. I've seen Red write better than this," Cloud replied. "Also... didn't you take calligraphy classes when you were little?"

"Yeah, well... that's different," Yuffie said. "And those classes sucked, anyway. And you're being mean, like always."

"What do you mean, 'like always'?" Cloud replied.

"I mean, you're always like 'stealing is wrong, Yuffie', or 'stop harassing the wildlife, Yuffie', or 'don't set that merchant on fire, Yuffie'.."

"You know... that last one I happen to agree with," Cloud replied.

"My point is, you never let me have any fun," Yuffie said.

"Your idea of 'fun' is freezing someone solid, robbing them blind and then running away laughing," Cloud replied.

"I only do that to the really bad guys," Yuffie protested. "_Mostly_. I mean, what's the point if you can't grab a few gil while you're at it?"

"Well, we're here," Cloud said.

During their little chat, they had lost track of time, and were now standing outside the 7th Heaven.

"Huh... that was fast," Yuffie said. "So... can I have it? Please? Pretty please?" she continued as they stepped inside the bar.

"No."

"Just one? One teeny tiny little orb. You won't even miss it."

"No."

"Oh, come _on!_" Yuffie shouted, stamping her foot on the ground.

"No," Cloud replied, a little more firmly this time.

"Fine," Yuffie said, turning her back to him. "See if I care. I don't even want it anymore."

"Good," Cloud said.

"Unless..." Yuffie said, looking at him over her shoulder, "you don't have any more use for it.."

"The answer is still 'no'," Cloud said.

"Jerk.." Yuffie muttered under her breath as she wandered off.

The rest of Avalanche was gathered around the bar, enjoying a well-deserved round of drinks. Tifa stood behind the counter, and was busy whipping up something special for them to celebrate with. Cloud sat down at the bar between Cid and Barret, picking up one of the bottles of beer lined up on the counter.

"Kid's still a pain in the ass, huh?" Cid asked. "Glad to see some things don't change."

"She's all right," Cloud said. "She's just never quite wrapped her head around the notion of 'private property', that's all."

"Well, we're glad to have you back," Reeve said. "We were starting to worry that you'd changed your mind about the whole 'coming back to life' thing."

"Speaking of which, here's to kicking that rat bastard back to... wherever the hell he went," Cid said, raising a toast.

"Hear, hear," the others replied.

"I could have used some help on the ground earlier, you know," Cloud said.

"Yeah, well... we didn't want to steal your thunder," Cid said. "We knew you could take that chump. Figured we'd give you some space."

"Even though we were sitting on top of several hundred missiles," Tifa said, crossing her arms. "You know, we could have just bombed Kadaj and his cronies into dust."

"Hell, I know that," Cid replied. "That was plan B."

"Right.." Cloud said. He paused for a moment, thinking. "By the way..." he said, looking over at Tifa. "Did Yuffie really bring over my materia for the fight?"

"She did," Tifa replied. "Why?"

"Nothing," Cloud said. "Just wondering.."

It was beginning to sound to him as though the young ninja had been about the only one who had exhibited anything resembling common sense that afternoon, bringing over supplies and exhorting the others to assist in the fight against Kadaj. Perhaps she had been worried about him, after all..

He glanced over at Yuffie, who was seated at one of the tables near the window, where Denzel and Marlene had badgered her into a game of Gin Rummy. The kids had teamed up against her, and were busy gloating over their latest victory.

The expression on his face softened as he looked at her. Despite their differences, he had enjoyed talking to her today. It had helped him take his mind off things, which was most welcome. Getting up, he cracked open the small box containing his materia. _"Well... maybe I can spare one or two.." _he thought. He didn't want to hand her just anything, though. Taking a minute to go over his collection, he picked out one of his more powerful summons.

"Hey," he said, walking over to Yuffie. "Here, catch."

Yuffie turned her head, looking up just in time to catch the orb. "Um... thanks, Spikes," she said, examining his gift. "What's with the sudden generosity?"

Cloud shrugged. "Call it a change of heart."

"Well, thanks," she said.

"Don't mention it."

She looked up at him, smiling. He smiled back. It was a rare thing for him to do, but Yuffie was unusually good at coaxing it out of him. Even though they always seemed to be at odds with one another, few of their quarrels were ever serious, and even the ones that were were usually quickly resolved. He was grateful to have a friend like her. Someone who could help take his mind off things. A piece of materia was a small price to pay to make amends and get back on her good side. He'd come to realize that the time they spent together afforded him something far more important in return. Something that couldn't be measured in mere possessions.

_And she _had_ seemed awfully worried about him, come to think of it.._

"You wanna play?" Yuffie asked, indicating the card game.

"Sure," Cloud said, taking a seat next to her. "Deal me in."

She shuffled the deck, dealing out a new hand, with her and Cloud teaming up against the kids sitting opposite them. They played a few rounds, gathering melds and discarding any deadwood as the game went on.

A lingering pause.

"...So, can I have the rest?" Yuffie asked.

"No!"

"Well, it never hurts to ask.."

"You really want it that badly, huh?" Cloud asked.

"Yep. And I'm gonna get it, too," Yuffie said, grinning at him. "Some day, Spikes. Some day. Just you wait and see."

He smiled again.

"Maybe."

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**A/N:**

So, I was watching Advent Children the other day, and some of Yuffie's behaviour during the movie's climax struck me as a little odd, perhaps even telling. (Handing someone materia without being forced to, I mean). That was the acorn of the idea that eventually turned into this little story. Also, it's kind of a blink-and-you'll miss it moment, but when Cloud nearly dies during the ending, she looks even more worried about him than Tifa does. I'm probably reading too much into all of this, but I thought it was interesting, none the less.

This story's admittedly more focused on friendship than out-and-out romance, but they do make an incredibly cute pair, whether as friends or as something more, in this writer's humble opinion. I might be the only one who thinks so, but I don't really mind.

Anyway, thanks for reading. Leave a review if you'd like to see more.


	2. Sweet Dreams

**Epilogue  
'Sweet dreams'**

Cloud picked himself up off the bar counter, shaking off the drowsiness induced by the copious amounts of alcohol he had imbibed after a series of dares by the other Avalanche members, most of whom had drunk themselves under the table by now. The night was all a blur, though he could vaguely recall someone swinging off a chandelier, even though he was pretty sure the place had never had one.

Given everything that they had been through the past few days, they decided that, since they were all back together again, they might as well celebrate their victory, which they did with abandon. The 7th Heaven had been alive that night with loud music, drinks, the works. Suffice it to say that had they had any neighbors, they would never have heard the end of it.

Cloud groaned, rubbing his aching temples as he stood up. Most of his friends had dragged themselves off to bed by now, and he was inclined to follow suit. As he staggered over to the stairs leading to the second floor, however, he noticed Yuffie slumped over the couch in the corner of the room. Evidently too tired to make her way up the stairs, the young ninja had instead elected to spend the night on the spacious leather couch in the corner of the bar, barely bothering to remove her boots and socks before curling up there. She shivered as a cold gust of air from outside swept over her slight frame.

Pausing, Cloud walked back into the bar, pulling a warm blanket over her. He stood there for a moment longer, studying the young girl's face as she slept. He wasn't sure what it was that came over him, but he felt compelled to add something to complete his gesture. He knelt down, pressing a soft kiss against her cheek. "Good night, princess," he said, brushing a stray lock of hair from her face.

As he ascended the stairs, heading back to his room, he thought he could hear a quiet voice murmur a reply.

"..Good night."

He glanced back over to the couch where she lay. Had she been awake? He couldn't tell for sure, but there was now a bright, red blush on her cheek, and the hint of a smile on her lips. She remained that way for a brief moment, before turning over on her other side, pulling the blanket tighter, letting out a small sigh of satisfaction as she did.

He found himself smiling as well, then continued up the stairs to retire for the night.

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**A/N:**

I know the previous chapter says "the end", but I couldn't help myself. (Also, it's kind of short, but I wrote this little addition in about five minutes. You can probably tell by the end result.)


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